1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns the field of memory reminder devices.
2. Background
In the course of daily life, people perform a great many tasks, many of which provide short-term indication of task completion. For example, that one is wearing clothing is a good indication that one has gotten dressed. Similarly, a person may determine whether he has eaten by the absence of hunger or whether she has bandaged a cut by the presence of a fresh dressing. Other tasks do not provide an immediate indication of completion. For example, unfed pet fish are nearly indistinguishable from fish that are fed. Taking some types of medication may produce detectable changes only at a much later time. Similarly, still other tasks, such as locking a car door, may provide an indication that the task is complete only to an observer adjacent the automobile. People generally rely on memory to ensure that many tasks are completed.
Unfortunately, memory is less than perfect as an indicator. People forget what they have done or misremember what they have not done. In many cases this does not matter much, but in some cases the results can be serious. Driving off to work with the house door left open leaves household contents exposed to thieves. Forgetting to lock the car door may make the car an easier target for vandalism or theft. Failing to take a medication, or taking an extra dose because one does not recall having taken a first dose, can have adverse medical consequences include severe injury or death.
People use a variety of devices to aid in remembering what they have done. Written checklists provide a record of the completion of each task on the list. A dated note applied to a fish tank declares that the fish are fed for that day. One can return home, perhaps after traveling for an extended period, to determine that the house door was indeed closed. One can return to the car to verify that the car door has indeed been locked. Counting the remaining pills in a bottle might help to determine whether the day's dose had been taken.
Certain electronic devices may also be helpful to confirm that tasks are complete. For example, a phone or PDA may function as an electronic version of the written checklist. Specialized devices are also available that perform related functions.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,081,807 for Automated Pill Reminder Bottles discloses an electronic cap for a medication bottle that includes a switch to sense opening of the bottle, a timer to count down a pre-determined interval after the opening, and an alert device to indicate when the next dose is due. Presumably, if the alert device is activated, a user can determine that a medication dose has not yet been taken. This may be problematic with medications that are taken fairly infrequently, such as once daily. A person taking a pill each morning might awaken a few minutes earlier than usual, note the absence of an alert, and mistakenly believe she had taken that day's dose.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,661 for a Medication Dosage Timing Apparatus is otherwise similar to U.S. Pat. No. 7,081,807 but includes a display. The display shows the time remaining to the next dose, counting down since the last opening. Close examination of the display could reveal that a pill has not yet been taken, but this may not be readily apparent as the display shows numbers that require interpretation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,392,560 for a Reminding Device discloses a stopwatch connected by wires to a remote switch. The remote switch may be mounted in an annulus above the activating switch of a wireless garage door opener. Applying force to the remote switch closes the remote switch and transmits force to the garage door opener activating switch. This activates the wireless garage door opener and closes the garage door. The user can examine the stopwatch display to determine when the garage door was last closed. U.S. Pat. No. 6,392,560 mentions that the stopwatch may be replaced by LEDs to indicate the status of the garage door. No mention is made of how such a device would distinguish recent garage door closings from those remote in time.